Health Systems Strengthening: A Panacea to Improving Consumption of Public Healthcare Services in Northern Namibia: A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess the impact of health systems strengthening on the consumption of public healthcare services in Northern Namibia. The study assessed how the following components of health systems strengthening influence the consumption of public health care services; (1) timeliness and readiness of services rendered, (2) health workforce competence, (3) health information systems, (4) availability of essential medicines, (5) healthcare financing and lastly (6) leadership and governance. We used a quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study design. 672 respondents were identified using the purposive sampling technique and a well-structured Likert-scaled questionnaire was used for the interviews. Collected information was entered into data sets and analysis was done using Excel and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0 software. The results were that over 95% of the respondents strongly agreed with each of the factors assessed. Health systems strengthening remains an important factor in the delivery of health services. This was taken note of when 48% of the participants agreed that a good competent health workforce determines their choice of healthcare facility when they are not feeling well. This was further augmented when 49% of the participants agreed that healthcare financing influences people’s choice to go and seek healthcare services from government facilities. It was concluded that health systems strengthening is the cornerstone for improved consumption of public health care services in Northern Namibia. We recommend that governments should develop strong health systems at all levels of health service delivery.